Construction of smoke-stacks of locomotive or stationary steam-engines



UNITED sTATEs 'PATENT oEEioE.

JAMES sTrMPSoN, 0E BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

CONSTRUCTION or sMoKE-sTAcKs 0E LocoMoTI'vE oca STATIONARY sTEAM :xaiNerINEsl l AND OTHER CHIMNEYS Foa PREVENTI'NG THE ESCAPE or' SPARKS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 161, dated April 17, 1837.

To @ZZ/whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES STIMPsoN, of the city and county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented a new and improved mode of constructing Smoke-Stacks for Locomotive orStationary Steam-Engines 0r Steamboats, and the flues of smiths and all other chimneys, &c., whereby to generate extra heat and to prevent the escape of sparks, ashes, cinders, soot and also in a very great degree of any perceptible quantity of smoke from their tops, which smokestack or flue I denominate, the draft-accelerator and centlrifugal spark-catcher; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description.

The nature of my invention consists in passing t-he iue from a central pipe, formed as usual, spirally around said central pipe; into which, after several turns it may again reenter, or be discharged into a space` formed by a jacket or covering which incloses said spiral flue. Through this jacket several openings are made for each turn of the spiral; each of said openings extending vertically the whole distance between each of the divisions of said spiral, and of a proper width to receive the cinders, &c. Each of these openings are covered by four sided receivers, of such .-a form and dimension, as when all are attached to the jacket will inclose the whole circumference of it; and the whole of these receivers may be inclosed by a thin sheet-iron covering, secured around them by means of mast-hoops, or otherwise.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation, viz:

I form a cylindrical flue pipe L, Figure 4, as usual, of a proper diameter for the object intended; and at a convenient ldistance above the boiler. I make an opening K in one side of Said pipe, as large as the average size of the flue; the position of this opening for the commencement of the spirals, as to height above the fire, will be best determined by experience and conven1ence,-if too near the fire, it will become toohot vand subject to burn out soon, if higher it will heat less, but with less heat of itself, will increase the draft by its height or altitude; and it may be made by cutting through and around three sides of it, viz: The side vertically adjacent to the innerperiphery of the flue as A it winds up the ascent, and the side at each l 'end of this,-that is the top and bottom upon an angle of inclination to agree with that of the ascent, and to be whole on the Vside opposite to the direction of the draft;

then bend the piece out to meet the jacket which will form a guide and serve as a fender for the flame to strike against; and said opening vertically should be as long as it is intended to have the vertical height of each turn of the spiral flue. pieces of sheet-iron into circles, the diameters of which are equal tothe whole diameter of the s'piralflue, and cut .out a round hole in themiddle `of each of these circles, as large as the diameter of the first mentioned pipe, minus what should be bent downto rivet it on to said pipe by; and if I then cut each spiral turn is intended to be one foot high, then add the length of its diagonal line of ascent to the inner circumference of the said iron circles, having allowed what 1s necessary toy be bent down as before stated,

and then cut out the hole accordingly. If

this iron circle be in one piece, then cutv :sov

through from its outer periphery on a line through the center of the circle to the inner periphery of theinner circle; then take another plate made in the same way, drop one of the cut edges below the other, and lap the edges 0f the two plates suiciently to .rivet them together in such a Vmanner that their outer and inner edges shall be exactly even' with each other. rivet as many together as it is intended ,to`

In this manner, add or have'spiral turns of the flue; and I should recommend the spiral to be so formed, as to have the ascent go around with the sun, like a back.- handed screw,as nature inclines fluids, air, 485e., to move when in a spiral or as to'set as tight as possible to it, and then riveted, or fastened to said pipe in any way preferred. But the riveting should be commenced at bottom first; say let it reach a little behind the opening and there com-v mence; pass it along just even with the un- 'V der edge of the opening; carry it around t and return it just even with the upper edge ofsaid opening,y and so on until it is all made fast; Thus if the inner pipe be round and straight -and the holes insid'e of the ironv circles or spirals of an exact size, the outer peripheries of the circles or spirals will all be as true as a common screw thread, and of an equal distance apart. I then inclose said spirals by another sheet-iron covering,

which, for the sake of distinction I have called a jacket Gr Fig. 3; this jacket may extend upward from the top of the boiler, and be fastened to it, or may be fastened to the inner pipe, just below the lowerV spiral, Vand extend to the top of the stack if desired, but l in that case must be closedat the bottom, tight around the center pipe, if it does not` reach the boiler; or, the spiral flue being reentered into the center pipe at top, the

jacket may be discontinued just above the top of the spirals, the draft being stopped in the center pipe just below when the flue is returned into it; or again the center pipe may be discontinued just above the spirals,` closed over to prevent the passage of any ,size of the inside pipe, which may be done by a partial cap connected to the outer edge of the jacket, and sloping inward and up.

ward upon an angle of about 45 degrees. This contraction of the outlet is intended to cause a body of hot air to be confined by the eddy all around the inside of the jacket above the spirals, whereby from its extra heat to increase the draft; and by this formation of the top, a similar e'ect will also be produced when passing swiftly through the air. j

At equi distances in each spiral turn', I cut three or four openings F through said jacket (varying in number according to the. size of the stack or engine) each of which openings are to extend up and down from one division of the spiral to the other and terminate just even with the outer edges of the spirals; the openings may be two inches wide more or less, varying according to the magnitude of the engine. edges of these openings should be bent out whereon to lodge, what I shall term receivers, D, Fig. 1, which receivers should be closely itted, and as nearly tight upon the outlets as may be, to prevent the air from rushing in; as it would have Va tendency to resist the sparks, ashes &c. from enteringn said receivers. If there are three spiral turns and four outlets in each turn, then there would be twelve receivers, and if the inside pipe is twelve inches in diameter, there would b e in its area one hundred and thirteen square inches; therefore to obtain the same area in the spiral flue, if it should be necessary, it must be fourteen inches high by eight Yeach receiveron the side next the jacket,

The inner,

inches wide, extending from the center; suppose this then to be the size adopted in any instance; the spiral flue of eight inches wide,

around a twelve inch pipe, would increase the whole diameter, say to twenty-eight inch-es to the outside of the jacket, and that would give, say, eighty-eight'inches in circumference; divide this number of inches by the twelve receivers,"and the quotient is seven inches and a third for the width of and if the receivers were three inches outwards, they would increase the whole circumference, say, to one hundred and six inches, therefore the receivers would then be each seven inches and a third for the side adjacent to the jacket, the opposite side nine inches, 'and' three inches outward, which would cover the whole surface around the jacket.' Said receivers may be made to extend from the outlet, as low as they can, so as to afford convenient room to be emptied so as to afford convenient room to be emptied of the cinders and ashes above the boiler and deck, &c. And may also b e surrounded by a thin covering I, Fig. 1. Secured to them by mast-hoops or otherwise, to present a smooth and uniform Vsurface with a sloping cap to close it to the inner jacket, immediately above the tops of the receivers, the inner jacket extending above the outer one and finished with a slopingcap; or the inner jacket may be discontinued immediately above the tops of the receivers, and the covering outside from the top of theV stack finished with a cap at the top as before described. The bottom A of each of these receivers must be closed tight,

which may be done by covers connected by hinges or otherwise, so that for locomotives they mayall be opened simultaneously by means of a lever C connected to said covers by spring props; but for stationary engines, steamboats, &c, they may if preferred be separately opened; or they may be constructed in any other` mode if desired. It should be borne inV mind, that the outlets for the sparks through the jacket should not be cut immediately over one another, but above and at the side; that is to say, if four are made in the first spiral turn, then the next four should not b e cut out in a line above the first, but advanced sufliciently from them and each other, to allow the receivers to pass down side by side as close to each other as they can, in this way causing them to cover the whole surface of the jacket. It will now be seen, that by the passage of the draft and flame up the central pipe from the furnace, thence out, around said central pipe andV returning into it again at top, or discharging itself into the jacket, which forms the outside of the spiral flue, I obtain for the draft an ascending rotary movement equal to the ve-"lso locity of the draft; and by that a centrifugal force, in proportion to the velocity of the rotary movement; therefore every particle that has weight is inclined to fly of upon lines of tangents and thereby to slide around against the inner periphery of the jacket; hence owing to the eddy and centrifugal force combined, as they pass the openings into the receivers (where from the rarilication of the air) said particles, however light will enter and fall down to the bottom. The receivers being vmuch Wider than the openings into them, the eddy formed by the passage of the draft by the openings cannot extend to the exterior and corners of said receivers, hence the very lightest sparks, ashes and dust are at once forced beyond the periphery of the spiral draft and there' deposited. I have tried it from the lightest draft up to the blast of cupola steam bellows, and not a spark or a particle of ashes could be seen to kescape from the top of a stack only four feet in height. It may also be seen that by the formation of the stack at top, the centrifugal force of the flame or hot air vagainst the jacket, the same passing up the central pipe as high as the top of the spirals, will also produce a heat, which will create an extra draft, while the extra heat thus provention is-l The combination of the spiralflue with the youtlets, and receivers constructed as above set forth, or in any other manner, whereby a centrifugal'force is or shall be obtained between a furnace orireplace,

stove or grate and the top or superior part of a chimney stack or flue to prevent the escape of sparks &c. from said tops; but without intending to confine myself to .the precise form or dimension aforesaid, which I have given, that its naturev and principles of construction and action may be understood.

JAMES STIMPSON.

' Witnesses:

' JAMES H.vSfrIMPsoN,

S. E. STIMPsoN. 

